Ideas

Anthony Grayling, a British philosopher says in his book “Ideas that Matter: A Personal Guide for the 21st Century” that ideas are the wheels that makes the world move. Adam Smith’s ideas on Division of labour and free markets led to industrial revolution and Capitalism. Karl Marx’s ideas on the seed of self destruction inherent in Capitalism led to Communism and the Soviet revolution. Charles Darwin’s idea of adaptation through evolution changed the way we now understand living beings. Steve Jobs’ idea of graphics interface and mouse revolutionized personal computers. Tim Berner Lee’s idea of a world wide web made the entire world connected in a manner never possible earlier. These ideas led to changes in the world in the recent centuries forever.

Ideas are generated in your brain. Thinking is associated with the release of electrical impulses from the nerve cells called neurons. A new idea is a new network of neurons firing together inside your brain. It’s a new configuration that was never formed before.

How do we generate new ideas? This is equivalent to asking the question: what are the environments that lead to unusual levels of innovation, unusual levels of creativity?

How do we get our brains into environments where these new networks are going to be more likely to form?

A scientist named Kevin Dunbar investigated the optimum conditions and environments where new ideas get generated. He found that almost all of the important breakthrough ideas happened when people discussed their ideas in meetings and conferences. So, the intellectual stimulation in a discussion, leads to new ideas.

In a sense, the net work patterns that we form socially, outside the brain, mimics the network patterns inside the human brain.

So, go forth, talk, discuss and debate your nascent thoughts and ideas with your friends and peers. Your discovery may change the world.